Chronicles seven years in the difficult lives of the Plouffe family, who live in Basse-Ville area of Quebec City. Beginning with the final years of the depression, the family is shattered by the economic crisis. Theophile, the father, was once a champion cyclist but is now a typesetter for the Christian Action newspaper and on the verge of retirement. Josephine, the mother, is devoutly devoted to the church and her family. Napoleon, the oldest son, is unemployed and in love with Jeanne, a waitress dying from Tuberculosis. Guillaume is the athlete, being trained in vain by Napoleon to become a great cyclist despite being a baseball fanatic. Cecile is the oldest and only daughter, still unmarried in her 40s, working in a shoe factory, and in love with a married bus driver. Finally is Ovide, the intellectual opera singer who turned away from the priesthood his mother destined him for out of love for Rita Toulouse, a flirtatious woman pursued by all the young men in town. When WWII arrives, Theophile who is also a nationalist opposed to conscription, may have to deal with the pain of seeing his sons go to war and get killed...